Let’s kick this weeks column off with a brand new video by guitarist Jon Gomm. This dude has worked his ass off to get where he is and deserves all the publicity he gets, which is a damn lot. Brand new and hot off the presses. If nothing else, Gomm is famous for spitting in Simon Cowell’s eye.
Ah, Psychedelia! A musical underground which fed on the springs of youth. God knows where it came from or how it evolved (there are many theories based upon preconceived notions which may or may not have anything to do with anything except ego), but it most likely was a media conception: Old people trying to write about things they didn’t understand, looking at the new world through cataracts and prejudice, and that view taking hold.
So you think you know something about music, huh? I thought I did too until I started writing this column and getting schooled by people not only more aware of psych than myself but more knowledgeable. Why, some of my past columns spawned related columns (not mine) at least as long, disputing my claims. Okay, not quite. But almost. Let us just say that, like many of us, the more I know, the less I know.
Whaaa-a-a-at, you say? 2012 ain’t over yet? You’re right. It ain’t. But if the Mayans have it right, it will soon be all over so if you don’t mind the indulgence I’ve decided to do what I do every year— post my list of albums which have floated to the top a month early. I do it for a couple of reasons. One, I hate for my list to get mixed in with the rest of those end-of-the-year lists which swarm late December and early January. The timing is all too predictable and if there is anything I don’t like, it’s predictability (which is why I don’t go gaga every time Keith Richards adds another day to his fossilized remains or Mick Jagger farts).
I’m sitting here piecing together the albums I think are the best of the year so far and ready to sing the praises of Sydney Wayser and her magic kingdom, Bell Choir Coast, when the Craig Elkins train t-bones me and scatters what could have been an easy column to the winds. Who am I kidding? It is never easy to write this column, especially when I’m comparing apples to oranges which is pretty much what any “Best Of” or “Greatest” list is. The Truth is, there is no greatest or best of because music is so intensely personal and of the moment that what anyone chooses today they might not choose tomorrow (or even one side) later.
The Strawberry Alarm Clock just recorded and released a new album. What’s that, you say? The who? No, not The Who. The Strawberry Alarm Clock! You know… Incense and Peppermints? Sit With the Guru? The boys from Santa Barbara? Loose fitting Nehru shirts and white pantaloons? Paisley gone wild? Sigh. Sometimes I think I’ve lived too long.
Bullseye Records of Canada
Segarini: Don't Believe a Word I Say 